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Smiling Danny

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Welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site. Here, I talk about all things wine. I share some memories of the different vineyards I have visited and You will also find some food & and wine pairings. Every now and then I will also share some recipes for some delicious wine cocktails.

Come Sip and Savor with Me!

XOXO, Smiling Danny        WSET Level 1 Award in Wines

 

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Tag: Lifestyle

Sweet Wines with Your Sweetheart Series: Stella Rosa Moscato D’Asti

Sweet Wines with Your Sweetheart Series: Stella Rosa Moscato D’Asti

Hi Smiley’s and Wine Enthusiasts!

I am back with another Sweet Wine. This wine is indeed a SWEEeeet one but I have truly enjoyed it. The wine that I have for you this week is a Moscato D’Asti. Anytime you see D’Asti, know that the wine will be an Italian wine with a hint of effervescence.  Asti is a province in Northwest Italy. Due to the wine being sweet and low in alcohol, it is considered to be a dessert wine.

Tasting Notes:

Wine: Stella Rosa, L’Originale Moscato D’Asti, 2018

Bouquet: Green Apple, Orange/Citrus

Taste: Apricot, Honey, Effervescence. The sweetness of the wine is not overbearing.

Clarity: Clear, No legs

Pairing: Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries: The chocolate on the strawberries hi-lited the effervescence in the wine. The bitterness of the dark chocolate and the sweet wine blended together so eloquently causing a nice melted chocolate effect on the palate.

Vintor’s Pairing Suggestions: Fresh Fruit, Spicy dishes and Desserts

I hope you enjoy this wine and wine pairing as much as I did. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Until Next Week, XOXO, Smiling Danny

Salud’

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Posted on February 7, 2020February 7, 2020Categories Wine TastingTags adventure, aroma, Asti, barrel, barrels, blogger, bon' appetit, bouquet, bourbon, bourbon barrels, budgeting, cabernet, cellar, challenge, champagne, charcuterie, charcuterie board, chardonnay, cheese, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries, clarity, class, cleaning, cocktail, cocktail recipe, cooking, credit card, credit cards, D'Asti, danny, date night, debt free, dessert, dessert wine, dessert wines, dry red wine, dry white wine, dry wine, education, effervescence, Finance, fireplace, food, food and wine, fruit, grapes, grapevine, grapevines, healthy, healthy recipe, healthy recipes, Hill Country, hill country tour, hill country wines, Italian wine, Italian wines, Italy, Lifestyle, lifestyle blog, lifestyle blogger, low alcohol wines, low alohol, merlot, mimosa, mocktail, mocktail recipes, moscato, Moscato D'Asti, notes, nutritious, nutritious recipe, nutritious recipes, orange juice, pairing, pairing class, pairing education, poinsettia, province, recipe, Recipes, red grapes, red wine, riesling, romance, romantic, romantic valentine's, room, rosa, Rose', salad, salu'd, sangria, saving money, savings, savings account, savings plan, series, smilies, smiling, smiling danny, soup, sparkling water, sparkling wine, stella, stella rosa, stella rosa wine, stella rosa wines, strawberries, strawberry, sweet, sweet grapes, sweet red wine, sweet white wine, sweet wine, sweet wines, sweetheart, taste, tasting, tasting note, tasting notes, texas, texas wine, texas wine trail, texas wineries, tour, tours, trip, vacation, valentine, valentines day, vegetables, vineyard, vineyard tour, vintage, vintor, water, white grape, white grapes, white wine, white zinfandel, Wine, wine adventures, wine and cheese, wine barrel, wine barrels, wine blog, wine blogger, wine bottle, wine bottles, wine class, wine club, wine course, wine dinner, wine education, wine enthusiast, wine enthusiasts, wine glass, wine glasses, wine influencer, wine memories, wine notes, Wine Pairing, wine pairing class, wine recipe, wine room, wine shopping, wine subscription, Wine Tasting, wine tour, wine trip, wine trips, wine vacation, wine vintage, wine wednesday, wine tastings, wineries, winery, zinfandelLeave a comment on Sweet Wines with Your Sweetheart Series: Stella Rosa Moscato D’Asti
Sweet Wines with Your Sweetheart Series: Sparkling Rose’ by Cupcake Vineyards

Sweet Wines with Your Sweetheart Series: Sparkling Rose’ by Cupcake Vineyards

Hi Smileys!

Are you ready for Valentines Day? This month I thought that I would do a Sweet Wine Series. So each week this month I will be trying out sweet wines and leaving tasting notes right here on the blog. Consider this my labor of love as many of you know I am not a fan of sweet wine.

This week I tried the Sparkling Rose’ by Cupcake Vineyards. Unfortunately, I assumed that this would be a sweet wine especially since I found it displayed with the sweet wines; however, it is not sweet at all! This wine reminds me of a dry Prosecco. The good news about that is that this wine makes a great pairing wine for fruit and a great base for wine cocktails. The Vintor’s notes state that this wine delivers notes of raspberry, strawberry and floral. I didn’t pick up any of those notes. The Vintor also suggests pairing this wine with shrimp ceviche or fresh blooms. I tried this wine with shrimp and didn’t particularly care for it but I did enjoy it with some blueberries and grapes.  I also made a nice wine cocktail with this wine. I think that you will enjoy it, especially for those of you who enjoy spending Valentine’s Day with your friends as well.

Tasting Notes:

  • Sight: Effervescent, Rose Gold
  • Taste: Dry Prosecco
  • Bouquet: Didn’t pick up any distinguishing notes
  • Pairing: Raspberry Sorbet

Recipe: Galentine’s Cocktail/ Sparkling Wine Float

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  • Champagne/Sparkling Wine Flute
  • 3 Tablespoons of Talenti Raspberry Sorbetto
  • Cupcake Vineyards Sparkling Rose’

Add 3 tablespoons of Sorbet to your flute. Top off with Rose’. Salu’d.

Adding the sorbet to this wine definitely makes this a sweet treat. I hope you enjoy this wine cocktail recipe with your loved one, your friends or as a special treat for yourself.

Salu’d, XOXO Smiling Danny

 

 

Posted on February 3, 2020Categories Wine TastingTags adventure, aroma, barrel, barrels, blogger, bouquet, bourbon, bourbon barrels, budgeting, cabernet, cellar, ceviche, challenge, champagne, champagne float, champagne flutes, charcuterie, charcuterie board, chardonnay, cheese, class, cleaning, cocktail, cocktail recipe, cocktails, cooking, credit card, credit cards, crystal, crystal flutes, danny, date night, debt free, diamond ring, diamond rings, dry red wine, dry white wine, dry wine, education, Finance, fireplace, float, floral, floral notes, floral wine notes, flutes, food, food and wine, fresh blooms, fruit, galentines, gelato, grapes, grapevine, grapevines, healthy, healthy recipe, healthy recipes, Hill Country, hill country tour, hill country wines, I, Lifestyle, lifestyle blog, lifestyle blogger, merlot, mimosa, mocktail, mocktail recipes, moscato, notes, nutritious, nutritious recipe, nutritious recipes, orange juice, pairing, pairing class, pairing education, pink diamond ring, pink diamond rings, pink rose, pink roses, poinsettia, prosecco, raspberry, raspberry float, raspberry gelato, raspberry sorbet, recipe, Recipes, red grapes, red wine, riesling, room, rose petals, Rose', roses, salad, sangria, saving money, savings, savings account, savings plan, seaafood, series, shrimp, smiling, smiling danny, sorbet, sorbet float, sorbetto, soup, sparkling, sparkling rose, sparkling water, sparkling wine, sparkling wine float, strawberries, strawberry, strawberry notes, sweet red wine, sweet white wine, sweet wine, sweet wine series, sweetheart, sweethearts, talenti, talenti gelato, tasting notes, texas, texas wine, texas wine trail, texas wineries, tour, tours, trip, vacation, valentine, valentines day, vegetables, vineyard, vineyard tour, vintage, vintor, water, white grapes, white wine, white zinfandel, Wine, wine adventures, wine and cheese, wine barrel, wine barrels, wine blog, wine blogger, wine bottle, wine bottles, wine class, wine club, wine cocktail, wine cocktail recipe, wine cocktail recipes, wine course, wine dinner, wine education, wine glass, wine glasses, wine influencer, wine lifestyle, wine memories, wine notes, Wine Pairing, wine pairing class, wine recipe, wine room, wine shopping, wine subscription, Wine Tasting, wine tour, wine trip, wine trips, wine vacation, wine vintor, wine wednesday, wine tastings, wineries, winery, zinfandelLeave a comment on Sweet Wines with Your Sweetheart Series: Sparkling Rose’ by Cupcake Vineyards
Wine Makes Everything Better

Wine Makes Everything Better

There is this misconception that I enjoy cleaning. I guess it is because I am always cleaning my house and do my very best to keep it clean. But the truth is: I HATE CLEANING! I do, however, enjoy a clean house. Therefore, I do what it takes to keep it clean.  I could go through all of the nuances and explain what I don’t like about each task but it will just boil down to the fact that I just don’t like it. I don’t like anything about it except being done. I even more hate the fact that I have to keep cleaning it.

Anyway, one day I was watching a vlogger on YouTube do one of her “Clean with Me” episodes. Why? I guess for inspiration, I truly don’t know.  But I realized that this particular person was playing music in the background. She may have even lit a candle. Not really sure but my mind began to drift as I thought about how relaxed she looked while she cleaned. So I thought to myself: “How can I change the circumstance of my cleaning to make it more enjoyable?” Well, “I love Jazz music!, I thought. It relaxes me and puts me in a very happy space. So the next time I clean, I will play some jazz!” A day later, it occurred to me: why not pour yourself a glass of wine as well. I shared this with someone else and they got so excited that I ended up going straight home and trying it for myself. I tell you, this was the best cleaning experience I have ever had. Adding the glass of wine made it all better. I have played jazz before but usually while washing dishes and not for long because I don’t want to ruin my love for jazz by associating it with cleaning. But this time, including wine and jazz made my experience all the better. Now, I don’t sweat the small tasks nor dread the big ones.

So Smileys, if there is anything that you dread doing or thinking about, take a deep breath and think of a way to turn it into an enjoyable experience. For me it was a glass of wine. For you it can be a piece of chocolate, a cup of tea or an audio book. The list is limitless but life is too short not to enjoy it or the things you have. Praise God I have a home to clean and the ability to clean it myself. For this I am grateful.

XOXO, Smiling Danny

Posted on July 8, 2019November 3, 2020Categories Wine PairingTags adventure, blogger, budgeting, cabernet, cellar, challenge, champagne, chardonnay, cheese, cleaning, clorox, cocktail, cocktail recipe, conundrum, cooking, credit card, credit cards, danny, date night, debt free, dry red wine, dry white wine, dry wine, Finance, food, food and wine, fruit, grapes, grapevine, grapevines, healthy, healthy recipe, healthy recipes, Hill Country, hill country tour, hill country wines, Lifestyle, lifestyle blog, lifestyle blogger, lysol, merlot, mimosa, mocktail, mocktail recipes, moscato, nutritious, nutritious recipe, nutritious recipes, orange juice, poinsettia, recipe, Recipes, red grapes, red wine, riesling, room, Rose', salad, sangria, saving money, savings, savings account, savings plan, smiling, smiling danny, soup, sparkling water, sparkling wine, strawberries, sweet red wine, sweet white wine, sweet wine, texas, texas wine, texas wine trail, texas wineries, tour, tours, trip, vacation, vegetables, vineyard, vineyard tour, water, white grapes, white wine, windex, Wine, wine adventures, wine and cheese, wine blog, wine blogger, wine bottle, wine club, wine course, wine dinner, wine glass, wine influencer, wine memories, Wine Pairing, wine recipe, wine room, wine shopping, wine subscription, Wine Tasting, wine tour, wine trip, wine trips, wine vacation, wine tastings, wineries, wineryLeave a comment on Wine Makes Everything Better
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